A/N: Hey guys, I just thought I'd post this short lil chapter. Enjoy!

"Shtoo-ball!" Greg shouted. "I was wondering when you were gonna come talk to me."

"Sorry, yesterday was a little… crazy." Steven replied, looking down at the ground. He refused to make direct eye contact with his father.

"Are you okay?" Greg approached Steven, knelt down next to him, and put a hand on his shoulder. "This is a lot of stuff to take in."

"I'm great, just really really… sad." Steven nearly broke into tears when he said that last word. He turned to his dad and buried his head into his shoulder. Steven didn't let any tears fall though, he was supposed to be stoic.

"Oh no, it's okay. I'm here for you. You can cry if you need to," Greg muttered comfortingly.

"No, I'm fine." Steven said as he pushed off of his dad and cleared his throat. "We still need to talk."

"Oh, um, yeah. Alright." Greg was a bit taken aback at Steven's serious demeanor.

They trotted over to Greg's van, opened the back, and sat there. They had to shuffle around a bit of trash before they could sit comfortably, but they didn't mind. Neither of them really wanted to jump into the subject of Steven's untimely demise, so they sat in silence. Greg was no longer mad at Garnet. She'd done what was necessary to help Steven and he was actually grateful. He was immensely curious as to what Garnet had told Steven when they warped away, though. Maybe that's what Steven was going to tell Greg right now. At the moment, though, that wasn't Greg's main concern. He was mostly just happy to be spending time with his son.

"Rose isn't really taking back the gem so much as reclaiming it," Steven muttered. He felt that it was important for Greg to know that the love of his life wasn't trying to kill their son.

"So, she's not trying to kill you," Greg said with a sigh of relief.

"No, she's just regenerating."

"Oh… so that means-"

"My body was acting as a bubble to stop her from coming back, but my body only covers half of the gem. She's coming back, just slower," Steven said as he interrupted Greg.

"But you've got a human body. You shouldn't need your gem to stay alive," Greg added intuitively.

"I thought about that, too. I figured that when she takes form her body will take the place of mine. As in, she solidifies where my body is… inside of me... killing me," Steven stated as a lump formed in his throat and tears budded in his eyes.

Steven turned to his dad, "I'm scared. I don't wanna die."

Greg reached for Steven and embraced him. "I won't let you die, Steven. Everything's gonna be okay."

At this point Steven let go. He sobbed into his father's shoulder as Greg let a few tears fall, too.

…

She was sitting on a floating, grassy rock with her head dangling between her knees. She wanted to cry, but she couldn't. She'd cried too much already and her gem-constructed body had no more tears left to give. So she sat there, her body overrun by sobbs that would never come.

She wasn't all that surprised when Steven told her that he and Connie had kissed. They did show a lot of affection towards each other, but she couldn't bring herself to talk. All she wanted to do was run up and embrace Steven, to cover his face with kisses and tell him that everything was going to be okay. She couldn't though. Doing that would only remind her of what she was going to lose. So she ran, and Pearl hated herself for it.

This was similar to what she did when she found out Rose was pregnant. She pretended to constantly be angry and spiteful, when all she really wanted to do was spend time with Rose. That's why she would come to this place again and again. This gem battlefield where so many crystal gems were lost. This single rock where Rose asked her to join the rebellion. This single spot of grass where Steven told her that he thought she was "pretty great." So she could reminisce about joys long past and fight her own raging battle inside.

A/N: I'm completely aware of my prolonged absence, but I can only thank all of you for your continued support. Writing isn't one of my main passions anymore, but it still makes me happy and if you guys are happy too that makes it all the better. Anyways, stay fabulous. Until the next chapter, bye!